I am a political activist who has worked and lived in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This blog chronicles my time in Palestine and also provides news and analysis about Palestine and the situation on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

please find below, my latest article published in Red Flag on the initial court victory for Sydney University academic, Professor Jake Lynch, in the court cast against him by Israeli lawfare group, Shurat HaDin.

If you would like to join the solidarity page in support of Jake Lynch on Facebook, please click here and then like the page.

For more background information on Shurat HaDin and the attack on Jake Lynch, please see my earlier posts:

SpinWatch: BDS campaigner targeted by law firm with links to Israeli intelligence(click here)

On 24 April, Sydney
University Professor Jake Lynch and his legal team claimed victory in
the first round of a legal case brought against him for supporting the
Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign.

The BDS campaign, which was launched by Palestinian civil society in
2005, promotes boycotts of businesses and institutions that either
directly or indirectly contribute to human rights abuses against
Palestinians, violate international law or participate in “rebranding”
campaigns that whitewash Israel’s human rights and war crimes record.

The campaign is inspired by the South African anti-apartheid
struggle. It is conducted in the framework of international solidarity
and calls for non-violent punitive measures to be maintained against
Israel until it meets its obligations under international law.

Israeli “lawfare” group Shurat HaDin filed the case against Lynch,
who is the director of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and
Conflict Studies, last October. It claimed that he had breached the
Racial Discrimination Act.

The claim against Lynch centres on his refusal to sponsor a
fellowship application by Israeli academic Dan Avnon. However, as Lynch
previously explained to Red Flag, he declined to
support Avnon’s application not because he was Israeli or Jewish but
because the fellowship which Avnon was applying for was a bilateral,
funded fellowship between Sydney University and the Hebrew University in
Israel.

“It [the Hebrew University] runs training courses for the military;
its Mount Scopus campus is partly built on land seized from its rightful
Palestinian owners, and the chairman (sic) of its Board of Governors is
Michael Federmann, who is also chairman of Elbit Systems, one of
Israel’s biggest arms dealers”, said Lynch.

“Through this collaboration at an institutional level, we effectively
internalise the Hebrew University’s complicity in the occupation [of
Palestine]. I reserve my right not to participate in, or cooperate with,
a scheme to which I object in principle.”

According a media release from Lynch's legal team on 24 April, Judge
Alan Robertson “struck out those parts of the claim that seek to
underpin the factual basis of the allegations that Prof Jake Lynch has
breached the Racial Discrimination Act”.

On 14 March, Robertson provisionally ruled as inadmissible large
sections of Shurat HaDin’s statements and affidavits because they did
not establish any facts pertinent to the case. At the time, Robertson
noted that Shurat HaDin had failed to include clear facts linking
Lynch’s support for BDS with specific acts of racial discrimination.

The striking out of sections of the claim vindicates the argument
made by Lynch's lawyers that Shurat HaDin's case is politically
motivated and part of the broader offensive by the Israeli state against
BDS.

The political nature of Shurat HaDin’s complaint is evident: Avnon
has not been approached by Shurat HaDin to join the suit, be a witness
or even submit an affidavit. The Israeli lawfare group also is not
seeking any financial penalties against Lynch should it win the case,
instead demanding that he publicly renounce the boycott campaign and
apologise for supporting it.

Robertson has now given Shurat HaDin permission to recast the struck
out sections and any other paragraphs of the claim to rectify the
defects of its case.

Robertson also “ordered the applicants to pay Prof Lynch’s costs of
the application brought to Strike Out the Claim and has given permission
for those costs to be recovered now rather than at the conclusion of
the proceedings”. In addition, Robertson ordered that Shurat HaDin's
lawyer Andrew Hamilton (who is also an applicant) not dispose of any
Australian assets without notifying Lynch. Robertson set the maximum
cost payable to the successful party at the outcome of the lawsuit at
$300,000.

Lynch welcomed the ruling, saying, “Today’s judgments are a blow to Shurat HaDin’s stated aim of outlawing BDS in Australia.”

Lawfare proponents such as Shurat HaDin regularly use SLAPP suits
(strategic lawsuits against public participation) to try to damage
political opponents by either financially crippling them or tying them
up in court and/or to win public relations victories for the lawfare
proponent. In most instances, SLAPP suit proponents do not expect to win their
suit. Their primary goal is to prevent public participation and
political activism through intimidation and mounting legal costs.

You can read my earlier articles published by Red Flag about the campaign against Professor Lynch here and here.in solidarity, Kim *

by Kim Bullimore: RedFlag - 7 April 2014

Professor
Jake Lynch director of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and
Conflict Studies and supporter of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions campaign.

In October
2013, the Israel-based law centre Shurat HaDin filed a test case in the
Australian Federal Court against Professor Jake Lynch, the director of
the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, over
his support for the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
campaign.
Similar “lawfare” cases, which seek to intimidate supporters of BDS,
have also been carried out in France, the UK and in the USA.
Lawfare proponents, such as Shurat HaDin, regularly use SLAPP suits
(strategic lawsuits against public participation) to smear political
opponents and tie them up in court or financially cripple them.
The court case against Lynch centres on his refusal to sponsor an
application by Israeli academic, Dan Avnon, for a fellowship at Sydney
University.
Shurat HaDin accused Lynch and the BDS campaign of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act. However, as Lynch explains to Red Flag,
he declined to support Avnon’s application not because he was Israeli
or Jewish but because the fellowship which Avnon was applying for was a
bilateral, funded fellowship between Sydney University and the Hebrew
University in Israel.
The BDS campaign promotes boycotts of businesses and institutions
that either directly or indirectly contribute to human rights abuses
against Palestinians, violate international law or participate in
“rebranding” campaigns that white wash Israel’s human rights and war
crimes record.
“Through this collaboration at an institutional level, we effectively
internalise the Hebrew University’s complicity in the occupation [of
Palestine]”, says Lynch.
“It runs training courses for the military; its Mount Scopus campus
is partly built on land seized from its rightful Palestinian owners, and
the chairman (sic) of its Board of Governors is Michael Federmann, who
is also Chairman of Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s biggest arms dealers.
“I reserve my right not to participate in, or cooperate with a scheme to which I object in principle.”
On March 14, Justice Alan Robertson provisionally rejected as
inadmissible large sections of Shurat HaDin’s statements and affidavits
because they did not establish any facts pertinent to the case.
In October, when Shurat HaDin launched the action, it submitted a
sweeping 30-page claim. According to Shurat HaDin, Lynch not only
discriminated against Avnon but was also responsible for depriving all
Israelis of cultural, academic and other opportunities.
Lynch’s lawyers rejected all charges and asked for the complaint to be struck down.
In rejecting much of Shurat HaDin’s claims, Justice Robertson noted
that they had failed to include clear facts linking Lynch’s support for
BDS with specific acts of racial discrimination. “You’ll have to do a
lot of work to persuade me of the correctness of that position”, he
said.
Lynch’s lawyers argue that the case is politically motivated and part
of the broader offensive by the Israeli state against the BDS campaign.
They also noted Lynch’s refusal to sponsor Avnon had not caused him any
disadvantage and that he had successfully taken up another fellowship
at the university.
The political nature of Shurat HaDin’s complaint is evident: not only
has Avnon not been approached by Shurat HaDin to join the suit, be a
witness or even submit an affidavit, the Israeli lawfare group is not
seeking any financial penalties against Lynch should they win the case.
Instead it is demanding that Lynch publicly renounce the boycott campaign and apologise for supporting it.
It is also attempting to have support for the Palestinian boycott campaign against Israel ruled illegal under Australian law.
Shurat HaDin’s lawfare attack on Lynch, academic freedom and freedom
of speech has been condemned by more than 2,000 Australian and
international human rights advocates from more than 60 countries. The
case has been adjourned until 24 April.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Dear friends,as you will no doubt notice, Live from Occupied Palestine, has had a template makeover. I have had a number of friends and visitors to the blog tell me over the past year that they found the white on black hard on their eyes and difficult to read at times. It has also been a couple of years since I last updated the look of the blog, so I decided to go ahead with a small make over. The blog is basically the same, with the same feeds and links retained. The only thing that is different is the template, background colour and I have moved some gadgets to different spots. I am not sure how long I will retain this new look but thought it was worth trying it out for a while.

I hope you find the new look attractive and that it makes it easier for people to read the post entries.Thank you once again for your continuing support of Live from Occupied Palestine! And don't forget, I now also have a Live from Occupied Palestine Facebook page, which I update more regularly with news items on Palestine. You can find it here.In solidarity, Kim

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Dear friends,
it has now been 20 years since the Oslo Accords.
When Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) began the
so-called "peace talks", they were scheduled to conclude within 5
years. Twenty years later, the fake "peace process" continues. Under
the guise of the "peace" talks, Israel has continued to ethnically
cleanse Palestinains from their lands and has deepen its occupation of
Palestinian land. Over the past 20 years, Israel has strengthened and
expanded its apartheid policies and today segregation defines landscape
in the Occupied West Bank, Occupied East Jerusalem and Gaza.

Visualising Palestine and AIDA (the Association of International
Development Agencies) have produced an infographic which highlights the failure of 20 years of "peace talks".

You can check out Visualing Palestine and there very useful and information infographic series by clicking here.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Dear friends,Al Jazeera recently posted the following documentary by French film producer and reporter Paul Moriera about the "invisible war" by Israel's illegal settlers against Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank.

The film documents Israel's ongoing settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The film examines the ongoing encroachment of new illegal Israeli colonies onto Palestinian land and the violence perpetrated by illegal settlers and the Israeli military who defends them, against Palestinians. Al Jazeera, in their description of the film, note that: "In new hilltop settlements, built on stolen land, he [Moriera]encounters the
sometimes startling intolerance of their ultra-orthodox communities who
will do whatever they can to take more".In particular, Moriera's film looks at the situation in Hebron, where three illegal colonies are located inside the largest city in the Occupied West Bank. Moriera examines the "street-by-street apartheid" imposed on Palestinians who have always lived in Hebron.

The film exposes the fantasy of so-called "peace process" and "two-state solution" with Al Jazeera noting in their introduction to the film: "With every square metre of territory that is taken, with every
Palestinian olive grove that is burnt down, or house that is demolished,
the land available for an independent Palestine state shrinks a little
more".

I have embedded the film below. It runs for 48 minutes and well worth watching.In solidarity, Kim

Nakba Keys

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About Me

I am an activist who, at different times over several years, has lived and worked as a international volunteer in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This blog is an account of my time in Palestine and also carries original news, comment and analysis (as well as reprints) on Palestine. Live from Occupied Palestine campaigns for an end to Israeli apartheid and the brutal illegal occupation of the Palestinian people. You are welcome to reprint any material from this blog authored by Kim, however, please acknowledge the author and the blog website